Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
Language Development01:22

Language Development

Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Components of Language01:24

Components of Language

Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs. “eh”). Phonemes combine to...
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language01:10

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory01:26

Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory

Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or playing an...
Purposive Learning01:22

Purposive Learning

E. C. Tolman emphasized the purposiveness of behavior — the idea that much of our behavior is goal-directed. For instance, employees who aim for a promotion work diligently to meet their targets. Tolman argued that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, the organism acquires certain expectations. In classical conditioning, a child might fear a dog because they expect it to bite. In operant conditioning, a person might consistently work overtime because they expect a bonus...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Effects of pharmacological modulation of cortical excitability on resting-state EEG PAC in humans.

Scientific reports·2026
Same author

Deconstructing bilingualism and its sociocultural determinants in cognitive aging and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association·2026
Same author

Supratentorial Brain Lesions in Unconscious Patients Map to a Common Human Brain Circuit.

Annals of neurology·2026
Same author

Deep white matter MRI predicts outcomes in coma of various etiologies: a cohort study.

Critical care (London, England)·2026
Same author

Kubo-Martin-Schwinger states of path-structured flow in directed brain synaptic networks.

Physical review. E·2026
Same author

Multimodal multicentre investigation of diagnostic and prognostic markers in disorders of consciousness.

Brain : a journal of neurology·2026
Same journal

Measuring language proficiency in bilingual children using EEG-based neural tracking of continuous speech.

Brain and language·2026
Same journal

Corrigendum to "Inhibitory states modulate the processing of negated concepts in existential sentences. Evidence from ERPs" [Brain Lang. 105796].

Brain and language·2026
Same journal

Evaluative processing of emotional and moral content during discourse comprehension: Insights from event-related brain potentials.

Brain and language·2026
Same journal

Reading-selective areas in the cerebellum in adult readers.

Brain and language·2026
Same journal

Effects of semantic distance and metaphorical constituent position on L2 noun-noun metaphor processing: an ERP study.

Brain and language·2026
Same journal

Cortical tracking of natural speech by children with developmental language disorder (DLD): An EEG speech decoding investigation.

Brain and language·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition
12:49

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

Functional connectivity changes in second language vocabulary learning.

Ladan Ghazi Saidi1, Vincent Perlbarg, Guillaume Marrelec

  • 1Centre de Recherche Institut de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ladan.ghazi.saidi@umontreal.ca

Brain and Language
|January 1, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

As second language (L2) proficiency increases, the brain

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 15, 2026

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition
12:49

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Second language (L2) acquisition involves complex cognitive processes.
  • Understanding the neural underpinnings of L2 learning is crucial for optimizing educational strategies.
  • Previous research has explored brain changes during L2 learning, but dynamic network integration remains less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate functional connectivity changes in language and cognitive control networks during L2 vocabulary acquisition.
  • To examine how network integration evolves across different learning phases (shallow vs. consolidation).
  • To correlate changes in network integration with increasing L2 proficiency.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity.
  • Network integration measures were applied to assess global integrative states within and between language and control networks.
  • Participants were native Persian (L1) speakers learning French (L2) vocabulary.

Main Results:

  • Functional connectivity within the native language (L1) network remained stable.
  • Total, between-network, and within-network integration decreased as L2 proficiency increased.
  • These changes were observed across shallow and consolidation phases of L2 vocabulary learning.

Conclusions:

  • The study provides novel functional connectivity evidence for the dynamic role of language processing and cognitive control networks in L2 learning.
  • Increased L2 proficiency is associated with greater automaticity and reduced cognitive effort.
  • These findings highlight the adaptive nature of brain networks during second language acquisition.